Contemporary (1950 CE - Present)
Do You Know This Woman?
Throughout the Cold War both sides regularly sent agents across the border, both to gather information that might be useful and to test the ability of the guardians of the border to catch agents of the other side.
Two Lenins (profile)
These busts of Lenin (Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov), the first leader of the Soviet Union, are but two samples of thousands of different versions of Lenin's likeness. Both are copies of the same plaster bust, approximately two feet in height.
Forty Years of Making Vehicles
This plate is typical of the sort of commemorative object given to workers in factories all across Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union prior to 1989. In this particular case, the plate commemorates forty years of making motor vehicles in Gotha, East Germany.
Post-Soviet Population Table, 2006
This table provides population information for the fifteen successor states of the Soviet Union. While these figures do not provide a breakdown by national composition within each independent state, they do reveal the range in the sizes of these new states.
Commonwealth of Independent States, Map 1994
This map outlines the political territories that took the place of the Soviet Union after 1991.
Arms Reduction in Eastern Europe
Once in power, Mikhail Gorbachev began a reform process that followed two paths: perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost' (openness).
Soviet Food Shortages
The 1980s posed many challenges for the everyday lives of the average citizens of East Europe countries, including daily difficulties created from shortages. Buying such necessities as food, clothing, and hygiene products was recurring obstacle to the average consumer.
Soviet Nuclear Reactors in Eastern Europe
On April 26, 1986, an explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine led to the radioactive contamination of the surrounding countryside and to radioactive fallout throughout Eastern and Western Europe.
Age of Consent Laws
Information on the ages used historically in western age of consent laws is not readily available. This table has been compiled from a combination of historical and contemporary sources.
Japanese American Incarceration at Manzanar, California, Interview Part 2
Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga is a Nisei (2nd generation) Japanese American born in 1925 in Los Angeles. She was incarcerated at Manzanar, California, and later Jerome and Rohwer, Arkansas.